The British government led by then prime minister Margaret Thatcher made several attempts to ban protests by Sikhs in the country following Operation Blue Star in 1984, according to recently declassified documents.

The documents were released after a UK judge had ruled last month that declassifying the Downing Street papers would not damage diplomatic ties with India. While the papers do not shed any further light on alleged British involvement in the army operation at the Golden Temple in Amritsar, they reflect a preoccupation with not upsetting then Rajiv Gandhi led government in order to secure lucrative trade deals.